Falcons lose 2-0 lead, game to Manchester

Photo by Dan HicklingSpringfield Falcons' rookie Matt Calvert, shown here in a game earlier this season at Bridgeport, continued his hot start against Manchester Saturday but it was not enough as the Falcons fell on the road, 4-2.

By DAVE DYER

MANCHESTER, N.H. - It was great penalty killing that kept the Springfield Falcons in it for most of their game Sunday against the Manchester Monarchs.

It was also the penalties that killed the Falcons, as they dropped a 2-0 second period lead to lose 4-2.

Springfield committed 11 penalties in the contest, with the Monarchs whistled for five. Of the Monarchs’ 10 power plays, the Falcons were able to kill nine, but it was a power-play goal by Manchester left winger Bud Holloway that tied the game at 2-2, giving the Monarchs momentum for their eventual win.

Springfield was also without leading goal scorer Matt Blunden for the final 11 minutes of play as he received a game misconduct penalty.

The penalties did not please Falcons head coach Rob Riley.

“It was ridiculous, that’s how I feel,” Riley said. “We were a little short-handed with [Tom] Sestito hurt. Our guys did a great job of killing penalties. It just wore us down to the point in the third period where we just ran out of gas.”

The Falcons, who finished the month of October with four wins in their final five games, have started November with a 2-3 record. Springfield entered the game fourth in the AHL Atlantic Division.

There were bright spots for the Falcons. In only his second professional game, Falcons goaltender Gustaf Wesslau made 37 saves on 40 shots. The Sweden native impressed Riley.

“He played great tonight,” Riley said. “He made some great saves on the 5-on-3 two minutes into the game. He gave us a chance to win, which you hope your goalies can do. He sure did that. That was a good effort by him.”

Springfield left winger Matt Calvert also continued his productive rookie season, scoring a goal and adding an assist. In his first 15 games, Calvert has seven goals and five assists.

“He’s a real good player,” Riley said. “Good players find a way to score goals, that’s what he does. He saw the puck coming before anyone else did and all of a sudden he was in all alone. He’ll get a lot of them hopefully before the year is out.”

Though the Falcons were outshot by a 15-5 margin and were a man down for most of the period, they were able to escape with a 1-0 lead. With seven minutes remaining in the period, Calvert scored on a short-handed goal, breaking away down the ice and deking out Monarchs goalie Jeff Zatkoff for the first tally of the game.

Controversy also hit in the first period when Monarchs’ defenseman Alec Martinez smacked a slapshot past Wesslau which rattled off the post and appeared to land on the ice past the goal line. However, referee David Banfield whistled the play dead and no goal was granted to Manchester.

The Monarchs kept the pressure on Springfield throughout the period, even having a 5-on-3 advantage, but Wesslau turned away shot after shot.

The second period featured more penalties for the Falcons, but Springfield continued to fight through it, pushing the lead to 2-0 when Ben Guite hit a slap shot that deflected off of Zatkoff and into the net. Calvert and John Moore were credited with assists on the play.

Manchester finally knocked home their first goal of the game midway through the second period when Holloway rebounded a shot off of Wesslau on a Corey Elkins shot to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Monarchs added three more goals in the third period, two on rebounds. Holloway’s equalizer came midway through the period. With three minutes to play, Manchester center Andrei Loktionov rebounded a Martinez shot off of Wesslau and knocked it home for the 3-2 lead. Patrick Mullen added an empty net goal with 24 seconds remaining for the 4-2 win.